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We are becoming more and more dependent on our smartphones and tablets, as they seem to become an universal device that you can use to access the information that is so important nowadays. This isn’t a bad thing, but when you depend so much on a single piece, you have to be responsible with it, to take care of it. That’s why when your Android smartphone or tablet heats up, you start to worry and ask different questions:

what have I done?

should I buy another phone?

does Android suck?

what’s causing the heating?

what can I do to prevent my device from heating?

Though the article concentrates on Android devices, the logic should hold good with any smartphone/tablet.

1. What’s Causing The Over-Heating?

Yes, I know, when you invest around $500 in your digital buddy, it’s quite hard to “let it go” just because you have over-heating problems. But, don’t worry, with moderate use and some steps that you must take, you will avoid ditching your Android and will continue using, at least until another tech beauty catch your eyes.

Small Size

The most simple explanation would be the small size and lack of ventilation. Our desktop PC’s, laptops, printers, TV’s also have heating issues but they are well ventilated, so that the plastic and the metal pieces are being cooled down. How do we use our smartphones and where do we keep them? That’s right, in our warm palms. Some of use use the tablet on solid surfaces, but that doesn’t help too much, as, obviously, it doesn’t leave space for the handset to “breathe”.

Excessive Gaming

This is another thing that manufacturers should have in mind and maybe they will be able to deploy a small cooling fan inside our smart, yet hot devices. Why does it heat up that fast when you’re playing games? Because you’re soliciting the “mother board” of the smartphone or tablet and it pushes electronic inputs at a much faster rate than when you write a message, for example. Playing a game requires a lot of resources from your phone and it represents the most obvious cause for overheating.

Continuous Online Browsing

Probably the second most consuming process is the online browsing. First of all, the smartphone or the Android tablet requires either GSM, EDGE, Wi-Fi or 3G connection (4G where applicable, as it is much faster than 3G) to display online content. So it’s a double effort for your smartphone/tablet: first of all it has to support the wireless data transfer, then it has to make use of the video resources available to display the information that you need. And let’s be honest, it can be quite fun to watch funny YouTube videos on your gizmo, right?

Old Battery and Inappropriate Use of it

You’d think that your Android battery is a part of your gadget, that it doesn’t represent a separate part? Well, think again. Almost all manufacturers buy the batteries and incorporate them inside but they forget to mention that you need to replace them, as their life cycle varies from 300 to 500 charging cycles. You don’t have to count how many times your recharge your smartphone, but if you drain the battery in 1-2 days, then you should change your battery once in 1-2 years. It’s a good investment and should increase its life and decrease the level of heating, as well. Don’t listen to the manufacturers, they will always boast with good battery life, but chances are that after less than one your, you will become frustrated with it.

Also, it’s a vicious circle with battery and high temperature. When your Android smartphone or tablet is hot, then it will drain your battery much faster as it will make then ion movement much faster. Also, try and avoid full discharges and don’t recharge only when your Android gizmo has already gone dead. Partial, quicker recharge series are better for the health of your batteries and it will also save you of the stress.

Stressing Your Gadget While it Recharges

There are some of use who are so in love with their digital friends that they can’t leave them be not even when they are “feeding”. Instead of leaving your Android buddy rest in its recharging dock, you are poking him and asking for more fun. You will see how fast it will warm up if you will not let it recharge.

2. How to Avoid the Over-Heating

First of all, you need to be careful about all the above enlisted points and avoid repeating the same mistakes thousands do. That’s why you need to:

Reduce your gaming obssessions

Moderate your online browsing sessions

Take care of your battery and leave your Android pal recharge in piece.

Disable Unwanted Functions

A few weeks after I bought my Android smartphone, it had all sorts of functions enabled that drained its battery and, obviously, made it over-heat. I strongly recommend that you disable vibrations if you don’t need them; don’t use an “expensive”, moving wallpaper as it use your gadget’s operating memory maybe when you don’t even need it. Be sure to check your Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connections, don’t leave them enabled if you don’t need them as your terminal will keep searching for new networks or other buddies to connect with.

Just Turn it Off

Have you ever tried to turn your phone off during the day? Or you leave him “awake” even in the night hours? It may sound crazy, but when you don’t need your phone to be on, why don’t you shut it down? There are many people out there who find it hard to shut down their computers, which makes them addicts. But, learn to separate your life from technology and use it only when you really need it. When you sleep, turn it off. When you are in a business meeting, turn it off. It will keep your techno friend “fresh” and ready for work when you need it.

Don’t Throw Your Gizmo Everywhere

Some of us take their gadgets right before stepping into shower or even after waking up. A few days after you just bought your beauty, you will be careful with it, but after you get acquainted and you get to know all its dirty secrets, it can “bore” you. So, you will leave it around the house, or, even worse, forget it in your car and let it burn under bashing sunlight. What happens if you leave it near another electronic piece? It can magnetize, and, with time, contribute to the over-heating. So, be careful and don’t lose your Android tablet or smartphone in your house, car or yard.

Clean Your Smartphone/Tablet

No, you don’t have to wash it, but cleaning the battery contacts and puffing it for dust will surely be a great help for it. Dust can infiltrate inside your device through the microphone fan and even infiltrate using the recharging orifice. If you are not sure how to open your Android smartphone or tablet and to pack it back, then run to a phone service nearby and ask them to clean it up.

Get A Better One And Upgrade

While not everybody can afford buying a new Android smartphone or slate, this will surely help in your over-heating issues. It seems that battery life is being extend year after year, although there are no real plans yet for a real big life cycle and over-heating free pieces. Newer devices have improved operating system and are more optimized which should make them more appropriate for use, thus, cooler and more pleasant in your hand.

is the Managing Editor of Technically Personal. When he has some extra-time, he writes about Windows 8 apps and reviews them on Wind8Apps. Believes that technology is the main engine of civilization. Send him a tweet or make him your Facebook friend

Thanks for this but i think we can avoid over heating by reducing movies playback time too.

Nate

I have to say half of this is “don’t use it too much” but why have a smart phone if you don’t use it?

shense

reduce downloading to avoid heating

Wh0Ar3YoU

Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Dank article

Hongkong MMistress Essort

Xtreme helpful tks

Punit Pandya

hi there i m using micromax a110 canvas and sometimes after playing 2 hours gaming phone slightly back panel heat up and i was worried and i found 2 sites very helpful and it turned out every android phone has this call it issue or result etc and even big brands giving this problems like motorola , sony xperia , samsung galaxy series so after reading this article i m tottaly happy that this is not a manufactored fault its a Common issue

Thanks for helping

debaraj LeNkA

but my phone(xperia L) is just 10 days old, as soon as i get connected to internet it gets hot within 1 minutes,,,pleae help…………..

Timothy Chan

My LG 2 also over heats. I wake up in the morning put it in my pocket. Then I arrive at school and during lessons it will suddenly feel very hot and after of 1 hour or so it cools and 2 minutes later it gets very hot again. I wake up at 7:45 and my better ran out at 3:15 (and that is when school finishes and I want to use my phone). How can phone over heat when it is not used…. Help! It happened to my nexus 4 too.

http://www.giridhar.co.in Giridhar

I completely disagree with anything that is written on this article. First of all, do you mean to say that Heating issues is only on Android phones? If not, you must say that if you browse and game excessively, move out of Android and go to other platforms.

Small size – does that mean bigger phablets have no heating issues?
Excessive gaming and browsing – Isn’t that the purpose of a smart phone? If I don’t do it, why would i need that device?
Turn off? – Is that even a solution to heating problem?
Upgrade? – If you upgrade to a quad core phone, heating issues are more prevalent!

Let me put my thoughts. Heating problem is 90% not due to the user’s way of handling the device. Its the device’s architecture and design that is the reason. I have seen users who had bought Nexus 5 and it heats upto 48 degree for no reason. I can give you logs and reports to support this. At the same time, my N5 doesn’t go beyond 40. Get a replacement, if your device is heating up unusually.

The 10% user issues is due to installing any and every application in the device. There are many applications out there with bad code and memory leakage issues. They cause excessive heat. There are malware apps which run in bg and collect user data. Its upto the user to know what applications to install and what not to. If your device is heating up suddenly, decrementally start uninstalling the apps that you have installed recently. There are apps to monitor resource consumption by apps. Make use of them. Beware and Be aware.

and the few points that I agree in this article are around taking care of your device.

http://techpp.com Raju

Appreciate your thoughts and effort to put them across. Some clarifications:

First of all, do you mean to say that Heating issues is only on Android phones?
No. From third paragraph -“Though the article concentrates on Android devices, the logic should hold good with any smartphone/tablet.”

Small size – does that mean bigger phablets have no heating issues?
No. It just means, phones (unlike laptops) don’t have enough space for air ventilation.

Excessive gaming and browsing – Isn’t that the purpose of a smart phone? If I don’t do it, why would i need that device?
Absolutely. Although we’re just listing the reasons, not discouraging you from using it for gaming.

Turn off? – Is that even a solution to heating problem?
As the author mentions, that’s a crazy option to take. But hey, it does cool down your phone, and it’s not the only solution presented anyway.

Upgrade? – If you upgrade to a quad core phone, heating issues are more prevalent!
Now you’re putting words into our month. Where was the mention about quad-core/higher-cores? The suggestion was to update to a phone which can handle heat dissipation better.

And yeah, I agree with your thoughts. But they’re invalid once you’ve bought a phone which heats up a lot. What will you do then? Other than returning the phone, you can try following one of these suggestions, which includes changing the usage pattern.

http://www.giridhar.co.in Giridhar

Makes sense. All quad core phones dont heat up if the design architecture takes care of it. But there are certain devices, which have this manufactuing defect and this defect is seen more in quad core mobiles. I am not saying this out of air, directly quoting it from a conversation I had with Google Nexus Support India. Infact in this particular case, the mobile was replaced at no extra cost, TWICE. The third nexus 5 we received didn’t have heating issue.

Turn off. Must have been reworded to restart. This will kill any unknown services running in the background.

Imagine I have spent half a lakh on a phone and later realized it is heating up. I am forced to change my usage pattern and the mobile is doomed. It can play game, can’t browse… change usage pattern and do what? make calls and sms? Man, there must be some other solution to this.

tagr

Amm no. Heating has nothing to do with user gaming a lot, and usage of device has insignificant impact on heating issue. There are games I can play till the device shuts down and no overheating. It’s just particular app and game that you’re using, that’s all. Some say that they ‘support’ your device, which in the right world would mean ‘using this app wiuld cause no issue for your device’ but it actually means ‘you can get it running on your device’. And you run, and it looks fancy, and then oopsie my fingers burn.

Smith John

I like Power Clean better. It keep track of my Andorid device’s RAM, storage space and temperature. Stop apps from wasting battery, slowing down your device and causing device to overheat.I learned about it on XDA Devs

Help….my phone brand is hasee….android
…by the time I access the internet my phone get heated up…….

Eric Ding

Turning on mobile data can cause the phone to heat up and eats up battery life try using WIFI instead as it uses less power

Naresh Nani

becoming blue color while pressing the screen 4 or 5 times what to do overcome this problem plz solve this problem and also strucking why

Abhijit Shankar

You can also download a free app such as clean master… It warns you about the device temperature if it gets to high and takes necessary steps to drop the device temperature.

guest

Hi,

Am using honor6 am not using mobile at night but suddenly morning i woke up its get very heat and why it gets heat and what to do on that time??? how to avoid that kindly please help me out of this problem…